Hospital corridor light



y 8, 935. F. GARRIGUES 2,003,273 J HOSPITAL CORRIDOR LIGHT Filed June12, 1928 IN VEN TOR.

A TTORNEYS.

Patented May 28, 1935 UNITED STATES HOSPITAL CORRIDOR LIGHT I FredericLewis Garrigues, Merlden Conn assignor, by mesne assignments,'toConnecticut, Telephone & Electric Corporation, Meriden, Conn, acorporation of Delaware Application June 12, 1928, Serial him-284,863

4 Claims.

Thisinvention relates to signal lights adapted primarily for use inhospital corridors.

An object of the invention is to provide a signal means, preferablyincluding a plurality of lights which when one is rendered inoperativewill still give a signal and will also indicate that replacement of theinoperative part is required.

Another object of the invention is to provide a signaling mechanismadapted to remain operative when a part has been damaged or destroyedand which will also indicate that a part has become inoperative.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a signal lighthaving a plurality of separated lights which can be seen from the sideas well as from the front.

One feature which is advantageous is that the lights are separated by anopaque barrier, the barrier and lights being enclosed within a suitabletranslucent cover so that if 'one of the bulbs becomes burnt out asignal will still be given, but it will be evident that a bulb requiresreplacement.

Another object is to provide an opaque barrier adjustable on the supportso that it may be fitted snugly to translucent covers and rims ofvarying size.

Another object of importance is that the lights are supported in socketsmounted upon the rear face of a support, the lights beinginserted intheir sockets from the front of the support and extending throughsuitably formed openings therein, and disposed on opposite sides of asuitably vertically disposed opaque barrier plate.

Another feature of importance is that the opaque barrier disposedbetween the lights is attached to the front face of the support and hasits outer edge closely conforming to the inside surface of thetranslucent cover so that the light of each bulb will be restricted toone side of the barrier.

It has been the practice in signal installation, particularly inhospitals, to provide a button at the patients bedside which whendepressed will operate a small light in the corridor advisinganattendant that a signal has been given. Should the light fail tooperate no signal would be given and there would be nothing to indicatethat the signaling means were out of order. The present inventionvtherefore includes a signaling device having preferably two light bulbs,each illuminating when lighted different portions'of a corridor lightpreferably formed as a translucent dome. With both bulbs operatingproperly the entire translucent. dome will befully illuminated. With butone bulb operating a portion only of the translucent dome will beilluminated indicating at. once that a signal has been given, but that alight bulb requires'replacement.

With these and other objects in view, my in- 5 vention consists in thefeatures of construction and operation set forth in thefollowing'specification and illustrated in the accompanying draw- In theaccompanying drawing annexed hereto and forming 'a' part of thisspecification, I have shown my invention embodied in a preferred form ofhospital corridor light, but it will be unclerstood that the inventioncan be otherwise embodied, and that the drawing is not to be 0011-strued as defining or limiting the scope of the invention, the claimsappended to this specification being relied upon for that purpose.

In the drawing- Fig. l is a front elevation of a complete hospitalsignal light, a part of the cover being broken away to more clearlyshow'the construction;

Fig. 2 is a transversesectional view taken upon the plane of line 22 ofFig. 1; I v

Fig. 3 is a typical controlling circuit for operating the signal lightforming the present invention when associated'with supplementalsignalling means; and v Fig. 4 is a separate view of one form of barrierand means to attach it to the support.

In the above mentioned drawing, I have shown but one embodiment of theinvention which is now deemed preferable, but it is to be understoodthat changes and modifications may be made within the scope of theappended claims without departing-from the spirit of the invention.

Briefly, and in its preferred aspect, my invention may include asupporting plate to which are fastened light sockets having lightsmounted 40 therein extending through suitable openings inthe plate; abarrier'plate attached to the plate and disposed between the lights inthe sockets; and a translucent arched or dome-shaped cover attached tothe supporting plate so that a complete self-contained signal unit isprovided.

Referring more in detail to the figures of the drawing, I show asupporting plate ll] of metal or other suitable material preferablybeveled along its. edges to fit closely against a wall. Mounted upon therear surface of this supporting plate are light sockets ll, twoindividual sockets of any preferred form being shown at tached to theplate Ill by screws I 2 extending into posts [3 on the'so'ckets' H.Inserted in the for ward ends of these sockets are light bulbs |4preferably of different colors, such as white and red. Preferably theselights M are insertable into the sockets II from the front of the plateIO through'suitable openings 5 provided therefoix.

Attached to the front face of the supporting plate In by suitable rivetsor screw's H is a barrier plate l1, preferably of metal or other opaquematerial separating the lights I4, one light l4 being on each sidethereof. With the signal light in the position shown the barrier plateI! is dis posed in a vertical plane. Also mounted on the front surfaceof the supporting plate H! is a hinged ring l8, a catch |9 beingprovided to retain it in position against the plate It. A translucentdome-shaped member 20 is attached about its periphery to the ring Is. Asshown in Fig. 2, the opaque barrier plate I! has its free or outer edgeclosely adjacent the inside surface ofthe translucent dome 20 which inthe preferred embodiment is concave. v

In order to fit the translucent cover 20 more closely the barrier I! maybe made as shown in Fig. 4. A bracket or angle member 9 has anupstanding flange and oppositely disposed feet at I opposite endsattached to the support H3 in the same manner as the barrier shown inFig. 1. To this angle member. 9 the curved barrier i1 is attached bysuitable screws 8. The holes in the barrier l1 and in the angle member 9through which the screws 8 pass are made somewhat larger than the shanksof the screws 8 so that the barrier I! may be adjusted within limitsrelative to its angle member 9. By this adjustment for the barrier I Iit may be properly fitted to translucent domes 20 which may varysomewhat from standard or predetermined size. I

2 By this dome-like and partition construction I form separate chambersfor the difierent lights and on account of the dome-like or arched formof the cover glass the different lights can be seen from the sides aswell as from the front.

In Fig. 3 is shown a typical controlling circuit for operating thesignal lights of the present invention when associated witha buzzer 2|and supplemental light signals 22 and 23. The circuit for each signal isseparated and independent so that on injury to one signal the circuitwill still operate one or more of the other signals. As shown in thisfigure, thetwo lights l4 preferably of different color are mounted inmultiple in a circuit, the circuit being made by depressing a button 24which engages flexible fingers 25 and 26 with a conductor ring 2'! onthe button 24. The supplemental light '22 in another circuit is operatedby the same source of current, but including a different flexiblefinger28 operated by the same button. The second supplemental light signal isoperated by flexible finger 29 also contacting with ring 21. when thebutton 24 is pressed. The buzzer, or sounding signal 2|, is connected byan independent circuit to the same source of electric current throughcontacts 39 and 3|, contactor 3| being connected electrically to finger25 by flexible connection 32.

As shown also in Fig. 3,"the button 24 by means of which these signalsl4, 2|, 22 and 23 are operated is adapted to be manually pressed farenough to engage the'contacts 30 and 3| operating the buzzer signal 2|,but, due to. the conical form of one of the insulating members 33 on thebutton 24, the button 24 when. released springs back slightly to theposition shown in the figure. In this position of the manually pressedbutton 24 the two lights I4 within the dome 2|! shown in Figs. 1 and 2,are maintained lighted and also the supplemental signal lights 22 and23. The buzzer, however, becomes disconnected as soon as the contactors39 and 3| are separated. Upon initial pressing of the button 24 tooperate the buzzer 2| by contactors the lights I4, 22 and 23 aremomentarily flashed on as the ring 21 is forced past the ends of fingers25, 26, 2 8 and 29. With the contacts 30 and 3| in engagement with eachother the fingers are out of contact with the ring 21 so that so long asthe button 24 is held down the lights i4, 22 and 23 are not lighted. Assoon as the button 24 is released and allowed to return to the positionindicated in Fig. 3 the lights M, 22 and 23 are maintained lighted.

I claim:

1. A signal lamp comprising a wall plate, a partition mounted on saidwall plate at substantially right angles thereto, a pair of bulbsconnested in parallel so as to be normally energized at the same time,one bulb being mounted on the wall plate on each side of said partition,an'arched glass cover secured to the wall plate, all portions of said.cover being adapted to give the same signal indication when illuminated,said partition being formed to co-act with the cover-so that its outeredge is maintained substantially flush with the inner edge of. thecover, whereby all portions of said cover are substantially uniformlyilluminated when both bulbs are energized and the portion or" the coverto one side of the partition would be substantially dark if the bulbtherein fails to light, thereby indicating the need for a new bulb.

2. A signal lamp comprising a housing having an opening therein, a lighttransmitting cover for said opening, all portions or" which are adapted.to give the same signal indication when illuminated partitioning meansin said housing dividing the same into a plurality of compartments, anda source of light in each of said compartments, all of said lights beingconnected in parallel and adapted to be normally simultaneouslyenergized to transmit light rays through substantially all portions ofsaid cover for giving a single signal indication when all of said lightsare energized, a portion of said cover being darkened upon the failureof any of said lights. 3. A signal light comprising a casing having anopening, a light transmitting closure in said opening having asignalling area, all portions of said area giving a single signalindication when illuminated, a plurality of electric light sourcesconnected in parallel for normally illuminating all portions of thearea, and partitioning means within the casing cooperating with vsaidlight sources for changing the illumination of a portion of saidsignalling area on the extinction of either of said light sources togive an indication ofsuch extinction.

4. A signal lamp comprising an inclosure including a light transmittingportion having a sig- .nal area, all portions of said area giving thesame signal indication when illuminated, a partition mounted in saidinclosure, and an electric light source on each side of said partition,said sources being connected in parallel to be normally energizedtogether whereby all portions of said area are normally illuminated togive a signal indication and only a portion of saidarea is illuminatedwhen one of said light sources fails, to give an indication of saidfailure.

FREDERIC LEWIS GARRIGUES.

